Starbucks Coffee

What about in Canada?

Not a wise decision and another benefit loss.

Locations with free WiFi are filled with entitled moochers who buy nothing or very little and therefore use space (and bandwidth) that should be for paying customers.

Please stop following McDonald's as a business model and get back to the original concept Starbucks.

I'm an international customer who has had to go across the street to the free wi-fi coffee shop while in the USA. Now I can get my preferred cup of quality coffee and snacks at Starbucks. I hope you can bring free wi-fi to non-USA customers too.

I don't usually comment on these things, but I've had enough. First you guys take away the Gold program and put the Gold customers in the Rewards program. So no instead of a 10% discount each time I have to buy 15 drinks before I get 1 free one. I went in to the Gold program early for the discount and the WiFi. You took away the discount when you closed the Gold program and put me in the Rewards program.

So now you're giving free WiFi access to anyone who walks in? You've just eliminated my second reason to have ever bought the yearly Gold membership. And playing the stars game (1 purchase per drink to get multiple stars per visit) to get the rest of the minimal benefits of the Rewards program is no longer worth it.

I get it. Starbucks doesn't want me on a loyalty program. That's fine since Starbucks is giving it away now.

I have to agree with Erik.  Granting free WiFi to all customers is taking away the only tangible benefit to the Gold Card program.  Getting a free drink every 15 PURCHASES is a joke and I can tell you that most people who have 15 purchases could really not give a difference on the free drink.  How about something tangible for your LOYAL customers.

Wow another Gold level benefit down the tubes...what will you be replacing it with?

There goes being able to actually get a seat in Starbucks for paying customers. So what incentive do I have to make a purchase? I already see mooches coming in with their water bottle and sandwiches and camping out for hours at a table.

Expect a lot of mooches coming on in and a lot slower internet.

Terrible idea.

Why didn't you just do it this way: Whenever you make a purchase and want free internet while there ask for a receipt. A code prints out on the receipt allowing you to log in to AT&T wifi for as long as you want during that business day. Really? A whole corporation missed a simple solution!!!!

Come on Starbucks, stop diluting your brand, cheapening your customer base, and taking benefits away from regulars.

I am in total agreement with DadCooks and several others here. I have always commented on msi that I think the ACCESS should be easier but require the user be a customer.  Many of the most LOYAL customers have said this, over and over.  (yes, I have also read all those who apparently don't even want to spend $5.00 at Sbux who want 'free wifi')  So, now they have it.  as DadC...said:  keep following McDonald's.  (I know what you exactly DID say DadC...)  

ps:  (I doubt I'm alone in this)  can anything be done with the random ability to go from the Ideas side to Ideas in A. and sometimes have to re-sign in, back and forth, over and over?  and then again, sometimes not. ???

It's true. The only reward to being a gold member now is a free drink on my birthday. Guess, that's that.

It's about time.  Every other coffee house I frequent has done this for years.

I'm a gold member, but I don't care about losing the exclusivity of free wireless.  I am only concerned about the utility of free wireless.  I love to sit and work at Hawaii's largest Starbucks, but I always use the nearby Time-Warner RoadRunner hotspot that is available via my home office account.  I do this because the free AT&T WiFi is often horribly over taxed by people watching videos.

Yes, videos kill bandwidth.

What would otherwise be adequate bandwidth for a couple dozen people checking email or browsing websites is reduced to a stuttering trickle by just a few people streaming HD Youtube videos.

Unless AT&T can implement traffic shaping to keep a few users from using most of the bandwidth, making the WiFi free to all isn't going to be a good thing.

Congratulations to the Digital Ventures team for making this happen.

Free WiFi was never an issue that I was passionate about before because I never previously found it to be a struggle to use the internet. I had a card. Somehow, I got it to work without a problem.

I can see both sides of the issue here: Starbucks needs to be more competitive with other places that offer easier access to WiFi, but I too wonder if this will lead to people squatting for hours without a purchase, and decreased bandwidth due to increased number of people using it.

Only time will tell! One thing for sure, this announcement will make many customers very happy.

This doesn't make me very happy. There are already too many freeloaders hanging out taking up chairs and drinking the free water. Now everyone with a laptop will be taking up the few chairs that are near an electrical outlet.

You really should have installed more electrical outlets before you opened up your stores to every freeloader in town.

I am a teacher and enjoy a cup of coffee or an iced tea and spend over $150 a month on the multiple cards that I have registered.

I possess a gold card and used to receive 10% off and the right to use the Internet. This year you changed my card to one free every time I buy 15. That's less than a 7% discount, and now my Internet access is virtually worthless.

I'm seriously considering finding more Coffee Bean locations to frequent.

Another thing... when did you change your policy that required employees to clean the tables more than once every two hours? Such a mess. I am not a happy camper today.

I don't understand why the comments are so negative on this.  There was such a demand for wi-fi that was free, longer than 2 hours, was easier to access the first time with a registered card and so on.  They are going to offer all of this and it's being met with 90% complaints.  I really don't see this drawing in any 'squatters'.  I don't see it at the private coffee shop near me and they have offered free wi-fi for years.  Granted I don't go there very much because I'm always at Starbucks, but the times I have gone in there are only 1 or 2 people and they usually don't even have computers with them.

good idea. so throw all the golden  whiners a bone.

That's Awesome!!  My only concern is that I've been to other coffee shops where they couldn't handle a very large volume of internet users.  I hope Starbuck's won't have that problem.

The complaints are not hard to understand. When SB ended a well-liked program they tried to sell us on the new program as a better deal. It's not. Now they are saying that the free WiFi we enjoyed as a perk is being offered to everyone. So why stay in the Rewards program?

Maybe that makes me a golden whiner, but I wouldn't be whining if Starbucks had not first offered these programs as something I could be a part of and then removed them.

I just don't see where the incentive to be in the Rewards program is, when WiFi is available to everyone. Starbucks told us we were special. Now we aren't. But Starbucks still wants us to think we are. I don't know a whole lot of people who are happy about that sort of thing.

I'll be damn. We finally won! Truly Free wifi at last. It took the boneheaded management team a few years to finally figure this one out - but at least they did.

I haven't been in the stores for a couple of years. Have they dropped Pikes Puke yet?

Real Dark roast coffee all day every day (not Pikes Puke) plus truly free wifi just might regain me as a customer.

I'd like to make it clear that my objection to free wifi, (without being a customer of Sbux,) has nothing to do with 'rewards' and I have a gold card and now everyone has some of the same rewards as me, etc.  I could care less about that..... and anyway, wasn't the wi-fi access on the 'welcome' level (along with the b.day drink...which meant only to have a registered card!=$5.00/minimum)???? so, no big deal about the "golden reward"  becoming less 'exclusive', to me.  

My concern is exactly what quite a few loyalists have been saying: be a customer.   As proven with the above statement by 'brodave': 'the boneheaded management team'.......?   While I have complained and suggested and been gladdened at various times, I hope I have never called any 'team' of Sbux names.  

I lovvve my Sbux and anything I have ever suggested or complained about was because I have been for so long a loyal lover of my Sbux coffee, and generally, the 'experience'.

@intrinsicvalue

I never forced Starbucks to offer a loyalty program. They did that on their own. If SB had never offered the program I wouldn't be complaining.

I'll give you an analogy. If an airline which had offered a frequent flier program with perks decided that those perks would now be available for everyone – would you be OK with that?

And the benefits were special. No one else was getting a 10% discount and free WiFi unless they had bought in to the program, so I don't know what you are talking about.

I don't whine about McDonalds because to my knowledge McD never have a loyalty program. Especially one that included free WiFi. If I wanted it I had to pay like everyone else.

Lastly. In one breath you tell us to grow up and then proceed with name calling and references to sexual acts. I ask you. Who needs to grow up here?

Nice, Free is good but FAST . . . real FAST is better.  You already have the best coffee but if you had the best WIFI too, I'd never cheat.  I do like the digital offerings to but "feel the need for SPEED."  There are sites that list internet speed.  With this offering, I am sure there will be a separate page for coffee shop speed.  I'm sure Starbucks wouldn't want to get dawged by the facts.

@ Erik Youngren

Hahaha...well you only have 2 weeks left so enjoy it while it lasts! Lets just put it this way. Free internet = I win/you lose in a weird "I want to feel special" kind of way. Life isn't fair, especially if your a white male in the United States.

@intrinsicvalue

Well, I am a white male in the US. So, I guess by your standard I do lose.

And yes, I have two weeks remaining. If Starbucks does indeed intend to see this through then I will be making a phone call to customer service on July 1st asking them to remove me from the Rewards program.

I see no reason to remain in the Rewards program for the pittance of remaining perks and the work that is necessary to attain them in that program when I can get free WiFi just by being a non-Rewards customer.

Incidentally, I already have my 30 stars for Gold membership next year. Which is another thing that irritates me. I tried to buy 30 drinks fast to keep the free WiFi and now it's being given away - free.

@ Erik Youngren

YAYYY FOR FREE WIRELESS!!!!! HAHA...I BOUGHT LIKE A THOUSAND DRINKS LAST YEAR SO I SHOULD HAVE BEEN PUT IN THE PLATINUM PROGRAM WITH VIP STATUS AND LITHIUM STARS!! DAMN THOSE STARBUCKS MONGRELS!! HAHA

Haha...I was wondering how long it was going to take erik to see that all customers with a card could get free internet, not just the gold members. All that whining for nothing...haha...oh well it was fun while it lasted!

sbx_bean

I'm not confused. Here's what I understand. As of right now you get free Wifi if you join the Rewards program and register a Starbucks card. On July 1st you don't have to be in the Rewards program and you don't need to register a Starbucks card.

So...as of July 1st what is the point to being a Rewards member? I know the rest of the benefits. I'm sorry, but a free drink every 15 purchases, a free drink on my birthday, free syrup and a free drink when I buy a 1lb of coffee is not motivation enough to stay on the Rewards program. When the only two reasons I was on the program to begin with was the 10% discount (on the old Gold membership program) and the free WiFi and then you take one away and make the other one available to everybody else there is no reason to be on the Rewards program. None of the rest of the stuff interests me (or makes me want to work hard enough to get it).

Maybe too I've just been lucky. I've never had problems getting online.

@intrinsicvalue

???   Dude. You at least had to join the Rewards program and register a card. But even if I'm whining for nothing, what's it to you?

to 'intrinsicvalue':  take a hike.  you are out of line, rude and vulgar.

Congrats this will be great for everyone

Erik, are you being serious?  A whole bunch of free stuff isn't a good enough reason for you to remain a part of a FREE program?  What the heck do you think a Rewards Program is?

By "removing" yourself from the program, you'll be saving Starbucks money and costing yourself more.  Man, way to stick it to them!

@cranBliss7

Yes, I'm serious. There were only 2 reasons I joined the original Gold program. 10% discount and free WiFi for gold members. The 10% discount was removed and I was placed on the Rewards program because they ended the original Gold program. Now, there will be free WiFi for everyone on July 1st. That removes my second reason.

I did not join Rewards voluntarily. I was placed there at the end of the Gold program. I was not happy, but I stayed because I had free WiFi under the Rewards program.

I was perfectly happy going to SB before all of this. I just don't see a point in all the other "benefits" as those were none of the reasons I joined the original Gold program for. Free drinks are nice, but here's the thing.

I have to buy 15 drinks to get 1 free one. I don't go to SB for drip, so I vary rarely use the free syrup portion. I buy a large bag of French Roast beans from Costco at $20 a bag about once per month. So, our drip coffee comes from there. Therefore I don't buy 1lb (or more) coffee beans at SB (particularly at those prices). There is no need since I bought mine already at Costco. And one free drink to me for 1lb of beans or more isn't worth the price of the beans. And lastly, a free drink on my birthday. Nice, but still not an incentive for me.

So, again, my only two reasons to be on the program have been removed. Why stay on the program when I don't really benefit from the benefits.

And lastly, not trying to stick it to Starbucks. I'll do that later when I take my business down the street to a local coffee shop that serves pretty good caps and latte's.

All of you gold card folks need to back off in my view. This is a competitive issue for Sbux since there are so many local competitors and national chains doing free wifi - SBUX has no choice in my view.

If this gold card is so important then the company has to come up with some other benefit to make it worth your wild. But free wifi is just SBUX finally admitting that the world has changed and offering it is about as required now a days as offering a bathroom or napkins.

I think it's a great idea. I live in NY and my laptop is my office. I spend significantly in Starbucks and Panera. The free wifi helps complete my day. I even wrote a detailed tutorial for people who don't know how to connect when they get to Starbucks. Many ask me when I am at the location so I figure it is in demand. <A HREF="www.gobeans.com/starbucks-wifi-for-free-via-att"">www.gobeans.com/.../" target="_blank">Free Wifi Starbucks Logon</A> Tutorial.  www.gobeans.com/starbucks-wifi-for-free-via-att